Field Notes for April 2026

 Welcome back to Field Notes!

April 1, 2026

This Douglas iris pops up in the new landscape every year about this time. The delicate purples and yellows are perfect for its dainty presence. The iris is native to Northern and Central California and Southern Oregon. Its name sake is botanist David Douglas (1799-1834); see Plant Hunter: David Douglas.

Douglas iris (Iris douglasiana)

April 3, 2026

Easter Bunnies on a Grand Scale. I encountered these giant plaster bunnies on my morning walk. There are quite a few of them on a residential property, and they range in size from 8-10 feet at the base. I would love to know the back story on this permanent art installation, but for now, I just enjoy seeing it during the Easter season and throughout the year.

Plaster Easter Bunnies - art installation

April 6, 2026

View of Oakland from the Hills. I love a good view and this one is of Oakland and the East Bay area, as seen from the Oakland hills.

 

View of Oakland from the hills

April 9, 2026

OTHG Hike to Valle Vista. Mari, Gaymond, and I recently joined the Over-the-Hills Gang hike at Valle Vista, by the Upper San Leandro Reservoir and near Moraga, California. We had a good turnout of about 40 hikers, all 55+ and all eager to explore the area (new to many of us). Anthony Fisher was our hike leader.

Valle Vista is part of the East Bay Watershed, so hiking permits are required. Watershed trail permits can be obtained at https://www.ebmud.com/recreation. Several members of our group hold group leader permits, so we did not need individual permits for the hike.

Heading to the Reservoir from the parking lot

Upper San Leandro Reservoir

Our route (within the yellow circle)

Our group followed a loop of three trails: Ritchie Loop Trail (2 on the map), Rocky Ridge Trail (4), and then the Rimer Creek Trail (3). Expand the map above to see the route circled in yellow, and the additional routes available. The loop took us from the Valle Vista Staging Areas, across Moraga Creek, down to the San Leandro Reservoir, high up on the hills for spectacular views, down by a Moraga residential area, and then back up through the redwoods to the staging area. The hills were arduous at times, but everyone just took them at their own pace. Walking sticks and good conversation helped as well. We had our cookie break later than usual, but in a wonderfully shady area in the trees.

Crossing Moraga Creek (photo from Mari)

Heading for the hills (Rocky Ridge Trail)

Mari, Gaymond, and I finished the hike with Bento boxes and great conversation at Sushi Fighter in Moraga. Check the East Bay Regional Park District website to learn more about upcoming events, and join a wonderful group of 55+ hikers (bring a friend or come solo).

Lemon and ginger cookie break in the shade (Rimer Creek Trail)

Intrepid hikers at Upper San Leandro Reservoir (photo by Gaymond) 

April 11, 2026

Flora and Fauna at Valle Vista. While at Valle Vista, we saw lots of raptors hunting on the wing, ducks and geese gathering by the lake, and song birds flitting among the vegetation. We also saw a herd of horses grazing on the green hills near Rimer Creek Trail (2 on the map above). What a great spot for them - lots to eat, room to roam, and shady forest to beat the heat.

Horses grazing on the hillside (Rimer Creek Trail)

April 15, 2026

Cooking with Mushrooms. I purchased King Trumpet mushrooms from the grocery store, and used them to make a delicious omelet (six eggs, six ounces of sautéed mushrooms, and a mix of Asiago, Parmesan, and Swiss cheese). Yum! King Trumpets are in the oyster mushroom family; grow together in gregarious clumps; and have a tiny button cap with a large trumpet-shaped stem. The gills are decurrent, meaning they run down the top of the thick stem (see Mushroom Parts and Types to learn more about basic mushroom cap undersides). These King Trumpets were cultivated by the Far West Fungi company in Moss Landing, CA. 

King Trumpet Mushrooms (Pleurotus eryngii)

April 18, 2026

Bobo Chronicles: the Perpetual Water Station. Bobo the Husky and I recently discovered this perpetual water station on one of our neighborhood walks. The water station is always filled, and usually very clean, unless plants have dropped seeds or leaves. Bobo always likes to stop and take a deep drink of water.

Perpetual water station

I was very intrigued, and found this DIY version online, using a 10-gallon storage container and parts from a toilet fill valve to achieve the perpetual water level. Brilliant!

April 22, 2026

Lichen Fermentation. Remember the Lace Lichen I harvested in Mendocino last month? I am now fermenting it in preparation for a dyeing project this summer. Fermentation extracts the color pigment from the lichen over a 3-16 week period (you can also use the familiar heat extraction method instead). The basic steps for the fermentation method:

1. Prepare Vat: Place dried, crumbled lichen in a jar, filling it roughly half-full.
2. Add Liquid: Cover lichen with a 50/50 mixture of water and household ammonia.
3. Ferment: Seal the jar and store in a warm place for 3–16 weeks.
4. Aerate: Shake the jar daily and open weekly to introduce oxygen, which is essential for color development.

Lace Lichen fermenting in ammonia and water

Agitate the jar once daily, and aerate once weekly

I see tinges of red, but so far this looks like brown dye

Dye Project: Bolete with Alum

For my first mushroom dyeing project, I decided to use the Boletus edulis that popped up in great quantity under the oak tree in our yard, after the fall and winter rains. The mushrooms had already started to deteriorate by the time I harvested them, but, according to my research, this can actually produce more dye color.

I decided to recycle three of the cotton dish towels in my stash, and overdye them with the mushroom dye. The dish towels had been mordanted with alum. Mushroom dyes typically work better with protein-based fibers than plant-based fibers, but I was curious to try dyeing with cotton for myself. I also decided to use a different mordant additive for each of the three dish towels—alum, titanium oxide, and ferrous sulfate—in three separate dye experiments.

Boletus edulis later in its life cycle

The Boletus mushroom cap underside consists of densely packed pores

The dye color for B. edulis comes from the mushroom cap underside, which is very spongy. I separated the spongy cap underside to harvest the dye material. The color is greenish-yellow.

Spongy mushroom cap undersides

Extract the Dye

The first step is to extract the dye from the mushroom pieces, using the heat extraction method that I've used for many other dye projects over the years.

Place the chopped up mushrooms in a pot covered with water, and bring the temperature slowly to 185 °F (this takes about an hour). Out of curiosity, I tested the pH of the liquid, which registered 6 (mildly acid).

Chopped up Boletus edulis mushroom pieces

Stir in 1 T. + 1 tsp. of Alum to the water. I checked the pH again, which then registered 2 (strongly acid). Heat the dye pot to 180 - 185°. This takes about an hour. Let the pot simmer for another hour. The mushroom slurry is a rich brown color, very slimy, and smells like a delicious, hearty stew. The pore tubes, through which spores travel, separate from each other in the slurry and look like worms.

Mushroom slurry draining through cheese cloth

Let the mixture cool for several hours. When cool, strain the liquid through the sieve lined with cheese cloth. Save the dye liquid and discard the strained mushroom goo. Cover the dye pot and store it in a cool place until ready to dye.

Dye the Fabric

Next, dye the fabric with the mushroom dye liquid. For this experiment, I recycled a cotton dish towel that had been mordanted with alum and solar-dyed with beet stems, which had produced a pale brownish-gray with a tinge of pink in certain light (see Dye Project: Beet Stems). I used a third of the dye and added more alum as an additive, saving the rest of the dye extract for two future experiments.

Boletus dye pot with alum additive

Place the extracted mushroom dye in a dye pot and stir in 1 T. + 1 tsp alum. I tested the pH of the liquid, which now registered 3 (moderately acid). Meanwhile, place the dish towel in clear water to soak for 20-30 minutes, to enable the fibers to soak up the dye.

Heat the mushroom dye to 185 °F (this takes about an hour). Squeeze out the wet towel, and place it in the dye. Simmer for one hour, maintaining the temperature of 185°. Add water periodically to keep the fabric covered with dye extract.

Steep the cotton fabric overnight

Turn off the heat and let the fabric steep in the dye overnight. The next day, squeeze out excess dye, rinse the fabric, and then run it through the washing machine (cold water only), and hang to dry.

Full disclosure: I wasn't thinking, and actually added a mild textile soap [like Synthropol or Professional Textile Detergent (a.k.a., Dharma Dyer's Detergent)] to the rinse, and then dried the towel in the dryer (I usually just rinse and hang to dry, and then wash in mild detergent two weeks later, giving the dye time to set). It seemed to work OK, but was not my usual process.

Squeeze out excess dye and rinse thoroughly

The resulting color was a greenish-yellow when wet (reminiscent of the mushroom underside), but it dried to a lighter shade. The photo appears more tan than the actual color. I wondered if the mushroom dye actually dyed the fabric at all, or did it simply cause a slight over-dye reaction with the previous beet stem dye? It will be interesting to see the outcome of the future experiments planned, using titanium and iron.

The resulting color is actually more greenish-yellow than the photo shows

Landscaping: Two Year Report

 We are celebrating the second anniversary of our “new” landscape! It’s a good time to take stock and see how the garden is progressing. Rebecca Kolls of Rebecca’s Garden says that in the first year perennials sleep, the second year they creep, and the third year they leap. In this post I’m providing a two-year report, comparing progress against Landscaping: One Year Report; Landscaping: Six Month Report; and Landscaping: Finished. Time flies!

Path to the rock garden (Bobo the Husky in the shade to the far right)

The landscape was designed as a wildlife garden with keystone plants for food and shelter, inspired by Doug Tallamy’s work to promote personal landscapes that provide wildlife habitat. The Bird Buddy bird feeder (with camera), hummingbird feeder in the side yard, and terracotta bird bath provide for our avian visitors. The native plants and grasses provide food and habitat for birds, squirrels, and insects. The mighty oak provides deep shade for plants, animals, and people.

Path under the oak canopy

We have become more familiar with the plants, weeds, shrubs and trees in the landscape, and have developed a monthly maintenance schedule for its care. Our professional landscape maintenance team comes once a month and contributes experience, labor, and knowledge to landscape maintenance. Some of the annuals that were planted as succession plants have died off or come back with fewer plants. I could scatter some annual or perennial seed mix, but honestly, I’m enjoying the more “edited” look with fewer plants. That may change, because I do miss the bursts of annual color scattered about the yard.

We’ve lost some plants, which is to be expected. We planted a few replacement plants in November, taking advantage of the winter rains to help get the roots established. Most of the plants are happy in the place they have been planted. The garden is fairly low maintenance (once you know what is required), but weeding is definitely needed.

Path to the lower yard

After reviewing the new landscape, I am satisfied with the progress made over the last year. Most of the original plants are still alive and thriving (coming to the end of the “creep” phase). So far our only change has been to plant two Japanese maple trees in planters. They are thriving and have benefited from aesthetic pruning from our landscaping maintenance team. I’m looking forward to observing as the perennials move into the “leap” stage of their development in the new garden!